I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
A bill that would require the Educational Retirement Board to publicly disclose the pension amounts for each of its 30,000 members passed its first Senate Committee on Friday. As The Independent reported in December, a state law passed last year prohibits disclosure of such information. The bill now will go to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The legislation is sponsored by Rep. Jack Thomas, D-Rio Rancho, and has cleared the House. That chamber passed it 66-0 earlier this week.
The statute in question easily cleared the Legislature in 2009, and includes a petty misdemeanor charge for anyone who knowingly violates rules prohibiting disclosure of the pension amounts.
The ban on ERB’s disclosure of members’ pension amounts comes at a time when state officials are struggling to contain costs and have targeted the practice of double dipping, when a public sector retiree returns to work for the state, collecting both a salary and a pension.
The Independent discovered the new rules in December when it requested pension amounts for retirees.
The increased scrutiny of double dipping, and the public’s interest in retirees’ pension amounts, coincides with cost-saving efforts by state officials as the state faces a large budget shortfall for the year that starts July 1.
Unlike most state workers, retirees who return to work do not contribute to the pension system–but the state continues to pay into the system on their behalf.
